All NHS doctors need to read all the available research.
Lyme Disease - Borreliosis is described by top NIH researchers as a relapsing disease as all Borrelia are. Others have found that the organism persists despite courses of antibiotics in mice, dogs and non human primates Monkeys. There are numerous case studies showing persistent infection despite antibiotic treatment.
Borrelia is a spirochete similar but more complex than syphilis anything doctors know about syphilis can be applied to this organism too.
Sadly microbiologists are not knowledgeable about correct procedures to find these spirochetes or their many different forms of presentation.
Over 30 years patients have been marginalised by doctors who no little about this complex disease.
If the antibiotics help it makes no sense to deny treatment would we to a patient with TB, Syphilis Leprosy which Lyme Disease has been likened to by researchers, in complexity.
Thank you Herald Scotland for your article.
They want the NHS to provide much more intensive and longer courses of antibiotic treatment, and to do more work to raise awareness of the disease.
Ms Seal has had several long courses of antibiotics after treatment from private doctors and travelling to the US. She is gradually recovering but still has difficulty walking, which she blames on the effects of the disease.
The illness has meant she has been unable to return to her job as an entomologist since her daughter Ruby, now two, was born.
Ms Seal said: "While some people do get better after a short course of antibiotics, others definitely don't. They should stop trying to impose a 30-day limit on treatment which doesn't make sense."
In the US the so-called "Lyme Wars" began with doctors insisting a short course of antibiotics was adequate while patient pressure groups said they needed years of antibiotics.
NHS doctors have said all the evidence from scientific trials indicates prolonged use of antibiotics is of no benefit to Lyme patients, and they warn overuse of anti- biotics can cause sickness, diarrhoea, and liver poisoning, as well as increasing the risk of antibiotic resistant infections developing.
One Scottish Lyme specialist, who did not wish to be named, said the concentration on antibiotic treatment for patients with long-term symptoms after an initial antibiotic course was in itself a problem: "I think it's a distraction from proper patient management which should be more holistic and focus on symptom management including cognital behavioural therapy, exercise, analgesia, and diet where appropriate."
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: "We continue to work with Health Protection Scotland to raise awareness of the risks of Lyme disease and highlight the importance of preventative measures against tick bites.
"A research symposium on Lyme Borreliosis is taking place in Inverness on May 9 and 10, and we will consider any outcomes from the symposium in how we address Lyme disease in future."
